Sen. Casey supports extending children’s insurance program

WARREN RUDA / THE CITIZENS’ VOICE U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said the Children’s Health Insurance Program has worked as a remarkable public-private partnership to deliver critical care to children.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is supporting legislation that would extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program that provides coverage to millions of children nationwide.

The CHIP Extension Act would ensure the program, which is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2015, would be extended through Sept. 30, 2019. The bill also includes several refinements that would improve coverage for enrollees.

The CHIP program, created in 1997, has been crucial to expanding coverage to children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to purchase private insurance. In Pennsylvania, families can qualify with incomes up to just less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

“CHIP has worked as a remarkable public-private partnership to deliver critical health care to children,” Casey said in a press release. “We must ensure CHIP continues to be there for them.”

Approximately 271,000 children were enrolled in CHIP at some point in 2012. As of December 2013, there were 188,452 children enrolled, including 4,559 children in Luzerne County.

The legislation, introduced in June by Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, would also improve access to healthcare in several ways including: providing coverage to foster children until age 26, even if they change their state of residence; permit newborns to be enrolled automatically; and improve access to preventive services, such as immunizations and screenings, that are not currently covered.

The act also encourages states to improve their individual programs by providing performance incentives. States are, among other things, being encouraged to raise the income eligibility limit to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, align CHIP eligibility age with the Medicaid eligibility age in the state and increase access to children with special health needs.

tbesecker@timesshamrock.com

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.